2
After Amber closed the bedroom door, Mark
finally turned to face me, his gaze locking on
mine.
He glanced at the suitcase by the door,
pretending to be nonchalant, “So, you didn’t
take off, huh?”
I replied evenly, “My flight to Hokkaido got
cancelled.”
“Oh.”
Mark ran a hand over his forehead, then sat down next to me. The couch dipped under his
<
down next to me. The couch dipped under his
weight.
He closed his eyes, and said quietly, “I didn’t
expect you back so soon. I thought you’d be
in Hokkaido already.”
“Amber, she’s a poor girl from the sticks, and
she’s never had a real Christmas before. You
were gone, off skiing with the girls, so I brought her back to celebrate with me.”
“Don’t be mad, okay? I promise… I won’t bring her here next time.”
I looked at Mark, but just a few days ago when I’d invited him to celebrate Christmas,
L
he’d been a totally different person.
He’d been all cold, and grouchy: “Why are
you so obsessed with Christmas? It’s just
another commercial holiday. Why can’t we
just celebrate the holidays that have meaning
to us?”
His words had sucked the joy right out of me,
and I’d quietly cancelled my dinner
reservations.
After that, I decided to go with my girlfriends
to Hokkaido.
When Mark saw that I wasn’t saying anything, worried I might blow up and go after Amber,
<
he added quickly: “I’m going to take her
home right now.”
I nodded slowly and replied, “Okay.”
Mark looked surprised. Even I was surprised. I hadn’t screamed, hadn’t even argued.
Ignoring his shocked look, I got up, dragged my suitcase toward the spare room, and slowly walked away.
